


putting out fire (with gasoline)

by defcontwo



Category: DC/Marvel Crossover - Fandom, DCU - Comicverse, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Bisexuality, Canonical Character Death, M/M, Undead Sidekicks Society, judicious swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-30
Updated: 2012-11-30
Packaged: 2017-11-19 22:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defcontwo/pseuds/defcontwo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Day and Captain America is dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	putting out fire (with gasoline)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CallMeBombshell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeBombshell/gifts).



He can already feel the bruises forming, knuckles cracking and splitting, from the dealer he just beat the shit out of in a back alley. It was lazy of him to go out without getting fully suited up but the hell of it was, he hadn't really been looking for trouble this time. 

(It was an accident, Dad, _I promise_ , he thinks with no small amount of bitterness). 

He considers shooting the man, considers walking away smelling of gunpowder and sweat and the world a little bit better for it, but - well. He just got to this town. 

New York doesn't know much about the Red Hood and he'd like to keep it that way.

"Happy holidays, dirtbag. You get to live, that's my gift to you," Jason says, flicking the safety on his gun. 

"Fuck you," comes the reply from the man huddled into himself on the ground, the words coming out in gasps. 

Jason snorts, already turning away. "Hey, I'm being nice here. You're the one who made me late. I've got an appointment to keep." 

He walks away, winding his way out of the alley and into the crowded streets of Manhattan, whistling as he goes. 

It takes him a few blocks before he recognizes the song and he can't help but laugh. 

_I'll be home for Christmas_. 

Not fucking likely. 

\+ 

It's Christmas Day and Captain America is dead. 

Not that he gives a shit, really, but it's been all over the news for weeks. You can't walk into a dive to have a quiet beer without the 24/7 news cycle picking apart what it means for the nation that its greatest hero has been taken from it. 

That and there's the sad sack of a man that he's come to this bar to meet, a man who is currently slumped over the bar, staring intently at the television while nursing a shot of whisky. 

He approaches the bar carefully, settling down on the stool next to the other man, signaling to the bartender as he goes. Jason may be underage but this doesn't strike him as the type of place that cares overly much. 

"Winter Soldier," he says, quietly. 

"That's not - that's not who I am," the other man says. 

"It's who you were when I met you. I never did thank you for those sniper lessons, by the by. They've come in handy," Jason says. 

The bartender sets a cool beer down in front of him and he lifts it up in a mock salute towards the other man. 

"It's Barnes. James Barnes," Barnes admits, downing the rest of his whisky in one go. 

"I know. I dug up intel on you after I left Russia. _Bucky_." 

Barnes looks at him, incredulous. 

Jason shrugs. "Once a Bat and all that. You know how it is." 

Barnes huffs a laugh. "Gotham and its Bats. Not even the Red Room can keep you out. Jesus, that's a special kind of terrifying." 

Jason grins and its mostly teeth. "The old man would be so proud." 

They go quiet for a few minutes, eyes cast upwards at the television. The newscast switches gears and an old World War II newsreel dances across the screen. Barnes sucks in a breath. 

"That you?" 

"Yeah. Uh. That's me," Barnes says. The words sound like they had to be scraped out of him, voice raw in a way that lets Jason know that he's been crying recently. 

"You were a cute kid." 

Barnes glares at him. "I was about the same age as you are now." 

"I was gonna say that you were kinda hot but something tells me that wouldn't blow over well with the geriatric." 

"You'd be surprised," Barnes mutters. 

Jason chokes on his beer. "What, don't tell me. You and the Star Spangled Man used to bump uglies or something? Scandal of the nation." 

The look that Barnes gives him lets Jason know that he's about five seconds away from being punched and he already knows that that metal arm hurts like hell, he doesn't need a second demonstration, thanks. 

He raises both hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Just asking, man. You've been staring at that newscast like the world's comin' down around your ears. It seemed like the obvious question." 

"No - it wasn't St - you know what, Todd? That's none of your goddamn business." 

" _Okay_." Another beer is going to be necessary to get through this conversation, he can feel it. 

"But Steve...Steve was - he was family. He was...he never treated me like anything less than an equal. Even now. After everything. Steve was - he was all I had left." 

Jason shifts in his seat, uncomfortable. He feels like he wants to crawl out of his skin. It's been a long time since he's been around anyone who has felt the need to be open with him in any capacity. He doesn't like being someone else's shoulder to lean on. Most days he can barely stand up straight himself. 

"Why did you call me here, Barnes?" 

"Heard from a guy who knows a guy that you were fucking around on the East Coast for a bit. I guess I just - I wanted to see someone who doesn't look at me and expect someone else." 

"You mean someone better?" 

"Well, if you're gonna be an asshole about it. Yeah." 

Jason nods to himself, making a decision. "Come on, get up." 

"What?" 

"It's Christmas Day and you chose to spend it with me, of all people, crying into some booze. I can think of better ways to spend my time." 

"Kid, you're definitely too young for me." 

"Shut up, I'm not, and that's not even the goddamn plan. What, you think crime takes a break just 'cause someone decided today should be Jesus's birthday? Let's go, Barnes. Bash a few skulls in, it'll do you good." 

"I'm not killing anyone." Barnes hisses into Jason's ear as they make their way out of the bar. "Not anymore." 

"Different city, same argument," Jason says, rolling his eyes as he shoves open the door, ducking down a bit to get through the frame. "I haven't killed anyone yet today, I guess I could make a once-yearly exception. We'll call it a Christmas miracle." 

Barnes nods, cautious. "All right. What did you have in mind?" 

"There's an A.I.M. underground headquarters not far from here. My intel says SHIELD hasn't found it yet or if they have, they're keeping it close to the vest. What do you say?" 

Barnes mutters something under his breath that sounds a whole lot like _fucking Bats_. "Yeah, all right. Let's do it." 

\+ 

The thing about the Winter Soldier is that Jason has never actually seen him in action. He's seen him line up and take a perfect shot at a distance that shouldn't be possible. He's been punched in the mouth by the Winter Soldier when he pissed him off too much during training. 

But he's never seen the man in close combat, not like this. 

They're in a run-down building in Hell's Kitchen, where a decrepit staircase led them to an underground A.I.M. base. Barnes is surrounded by about fifteen A.I.M. agents, typical grunts who don't know their head from their ass, and he's taking them apart with about as much as ease as if he were reading the morning newspaper. 

He's magnificent. Better than Batman, Jason realizes, and he's equal parts impressed and turned on. 

"This what you had in mind?" Barnes calls out, turning swiftly and punching a guy in the nose. Jason hears the grunt's bones crack and it lights a fuse in him, to know how much real damage this man that he was casually drinking with mere hours before is capable of. 

"Pretty much, yeah. How'd ya like your present?" Jason yells across the room. They've fallen into a kind of rhythm, fighting mostly back to back and fanning their way outwards, but he can't help the urge to keep turning around to watch Barnes fight. 

"Best I've had in years," Barnes calls back. 

They make short work of the A.I.M. agents and it isn't long before the whole lot of them are fleeing through the exits, not quite as loyal and conditioned as A.I.M. would have liked to believe. 

"That's it?" Barnes asks. "Some undertrained recruits and lab equipment? Todd, you never take me anywhere nice." 

"Like you didn't have any fun here whatsoever," Jason says. "You know, since there is _nothing_ left in this place but lab equipment..." 

"You want to blow it up, don't you?" Barnes asks. 

"Hey, everyone's gotta have their hobbies." 

\+ 

They stand across the street, watching the police and the firemen arrive as the fire devours the old building, flames licking upwards into the sky. 

"Hey, Jason?" 

"Yeah?" 

"I have an apartment nearby." 

"But _Bucky_ , I thought I was too - "

"Shut up." 

\+ 

They barrel their way through the front door, Jason's teeth biting none-too-softly at the skin just beneath Barnes's jaw. One of Barnes's hands dance upwards under Jason's shirt while the other (the metal hand, _fuck_ ) works on undoing his fly. 

They knock into the nightstand and the clock radio falls to the ground, still plugged in. A button must have been hit on the way down because carols start booming from the radio and Jason thinks pretty seriously for a minute there about getting out his gun and shooting it. 

But then Barnes detaches his gun holster and tosses it to the floor and the weight of the older man presses him down into the bed and - well. He's got better things to do. 

The radio plays on. 

_I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams_.

**Author's Note:**

> this was from a prompt from my dear friend moony that was supposed to be a drabble but spiraled rapidly outwards. 
> 
> it rests upon a few head canons and presumptions on my part: 
> 
> a) when asked in an interview if jason is bisexual, winick answered in a way that totally ducked the question and at the same time implied "well yeah but we're not gonna talk about it." you give me an inch, i'll take a mile. 
> 
> b) bucky and toro were two queer kids in wartime love and no one can tell me differently. 
> 
> c) when jason was tooling around the globe, learning all sorts of tricks on talia's dime, he got some choice sniper lessons from the winter soldier.
> 
> d) shhh timeline waving multiverse waving shenanigans! 
> 
> e) this is set in that nebulous time after steve's death and before bucky runs into natasha again, or else this would be a whole different story because there is nothing i'd like more than to see nat and jason collide.


End file.
